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I agree with this take nate. I think much of the motivations of people are rooted in existential threat-avoidance. Which can also include actions which are typically seen as purely, hedonistic.
But unfortunately, that threat-avoidance is highly subjective and prone to improperly identifying threats and acting irrationally to negate the threat. But I do think it is the primary driver, albeit highly interwoven and obfuscated, behind the actions we would collectively call "evil".
Threat avoidance is one aspect of survival instincts, but there are also positive reinforcements such as the pleasure of food intake, but in any case, it is when those aspects are overindulged and emphasized that the habits form that become selfishness, in my opinion.
It is fair to say that children are self-centered. Initially they don't even know that there are other "selves". This is ignorance and immaturity, not sin, evil or any other theological construct.
I think it's dangerous and harmful to conflate self-centeredness and immaturity with sin, evil, sociopathy, depravity and the like ... or to suggest that their initial condition contains the seeds of those pathologies.
Most children, including those who are not taught that they are depraved worms, grow up to be relatively well behaved adults.
Children who are not taught proper behavior are a burden to society. Thankfully, most pick up the basics from parents, school, church, etc.
No. It is possible this is a valid explanation for specific examples. But however much you may want to railroad this into some ideological exaggeration of evolution into a TOE, many if not most human desires are not rooted in self preservation. Though the percentages probably depend a lot on the environment. Desires need not be rooted in anything. Some do have roots in some psychological issue. Others follow a self-image of some kind. Many are rooted in a love or idolization of something.
Greed simply means the desire has become unbalanced or obsessive. And that points to other possible causes -- a skewed system of values or a condition which make one susceptible to obsessive behavior.
....sorry but I am not going to fall in line with such an obvious ideological oversimplification of reality.
I don't see a proposed ToE here as much as a basis for the firing of complex sets of intertwined emotions...even if the person is unaware of the reasons for them (as they often are).
It doesn't explain the rationale. It doesn't explain the parsing of information to form the rationale. But existential threat-avoidance can explain an awful lot.
We still of course need descriptions of generalized feelings and emotions. We have love, anger, greed, lust, hunger, satisfaction, envy, etc. But what brings these emotions about? Why might a person feel envious of another who has more? Why might the person with more, feel they need even more?
I don't agree with your description that greed is a "desire to become unbalanced or obsessive"? I think you are seeing the greed (or the greedy) from your own perspective....not from the perspective they have (which is assuredly not the same). I suspect a truly greedy person might tell you they don't have enough, while you would observe they assuredly do. That's the point...they see their greed as rational at some level (even if only subconsciously in some cases).
That's not to excuse greed (which I imagine most of us 1st worlders are somewhat guilty of). That's simply to highlight that I suspect you could untangle the knots of any action and the root of the motivation is likely tied to existential threat-avoidance (or self-preservation if you prefer)...even if appearing completely unprovoked or irrational.
Threat avoidance is one aspect of survival instincts, but there are also positive reinforcements such as the pleasure of food intake, but in any case, it is when those aspects are overindulged and emphasized that the habits form that become selfishness, in my opinion.
Consider this though....food intake is pleasurable (to differing degrees of course) because it is threat-avoidance. The threat of starvation. And we learn early on to reward ourselves for avoiding starvation.
Consider other pleasurable activities...sex, music, art. Avoidance of existential angst, which threatens the desire to exist.
Yeah, I'm in leftfield speculation mode right now. But psychology is a particular interest to me. So I find it interesting to (dare I say) indulge in pet theories from time to time.
Consider this though....food intake is pleasurable (to differing degrees of course) because it is threat-avoidance. The threat of starvation. And we learn early on to reward ourselves for avoiding starvation.
Consider other pleasurable activities...sex, music, art. Avoidance of existential angst, which threatens the desire to exist.
Yeah, I'm in leftfield speculation mode right now. But psychology is a particular interest to me. So I find it interesting to (dare I say) indulge in pet theories from time to time.
There is some basis, I would agree, but I don't see the survival instincts(s) as only threat avoidance in any sense... unless you think of life itself as threatening the opposite.
sinful has theological connotations.
evil and wicked do not.
Perhaps we can just agree that evil, wicked and sinful are loaded terms then, because from that perspective it doesn't really matter if we agree on whether they are fundamentally theological concepts. They are shaming terms that suggest that the reason a child does a thing has something to do with their fundamental character, nature and makeup. And that is destructive and harmful to suggest when a misbehaving child is simply ignorant of the full facts of their situation and inexperienced at the required self discipline and needs loving correction and mentoring, not to be made to feel that they are awful persons.
Telling a child that what they are doing is harmful, unethical, or inconsiderate is focusing on the actions. Telling them that it is evil, wicked or sinful is focusing on their worth as a person.
Perhaps we can just agree that evil, wicked and sinful are loaded terms then, because from that perspective it doesn't really matter if we agree on whether they are fundamentally theological concepts. They are shaming terms that suggest that the reason a child does a thing has something to do with their fundamental character, nature and makeup. And that is destructive and harmful to suggest when a misbehaving child is simply ignorant of the full facts of their situation and inexperienced at the required self discipline and needs loving correction and mentoring, not to be made to feel that they are awful persons.
Telling a child that what they are doing is harmful, unethical, or inconsiderate is focusing on the actions. Telling them that it is evil, wicked or sinful is focusing on their worth as a person.
There is some basis, I would agree, but I don't see the survival instincts(s) as only threat avoidance in any sense... unless you think of life itself as threatening the opposite.
Actually, I suspect at some level our unconscious (or the subconscious if you prefer, which does quite a lot for us without us having to coordinate it) assesses the proposition of life as an emotional burden, which must be overcome, in order to avoid the threat of existential angst. Hence why a certain level of self-delusion and distraction isn't such a bad thing. Which is why we enjoy things like art which do not seemingly have direct utility to our self-preservation. I hypothesize that these things do have utility...it is to distract (or overcome) from the existential angst of the burdensome life (to the unconscious).
It's admittedly a work in progress hypothesis.
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